Elf Lyons is an award-winning performer - working in the realms of comedy, clowning, bouffon, stand-up, verbatim theatre and live art. With over ten years of experience working as a professional comic, Elf spends her months touring internationally with her solo shows and directing and teaching artists of all creative disciplines around the world. She loves making work that stretches the relationship between comedy, theatre, and performance art.
In the last few years, she has been lucky to work on creative projects with establishments such as the Barbican, the British Library, the London Science Museum, the Royal Society of Literature and the City of London to name a few. She is the most programmed artist at the Soho Theatre, London.
Elf's solo work has included solo shows re-enacting classical ballet using found items, musicals about the economy whilst dressed as a Lion, a mime show about a bank robbery and a comedy horror extravaganza inspired by the work of Stephen King.
In 2025, Elf toured the UK, Europe and Australia with Horses, Swan, Raven and Chiffchaff, returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with her sold-out Bird Trilogy, won Best Comedy at the Sky Arts Awards, released the fourth series of Elfonomics, and directed multiple ★★★★★-reviewed Fringe shows.
In 2024, she received 12 ★★★★★ reviews, sold out Horses at the Edinburgh Fringe, and won the (ISH) Edinburgh Comedy Award, the Comedian’s Choice Award, and the Mervyn Stutter ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ Award, alongside international Best Show awards for Raven in Reykjavik and Adelaide.
In 2023, Elf was named No. 25 in The Telegraph’s “50 Best Comedians of the 21st Century,” toured three acclaimed one-hour shows, and was nominated for the Deaf Action Award for Deaf Excellence for Heist. That year also marked her stage debut at the Arcola Theatre in The Misandrist, earning rave reviews.
Alongside her live work Elf is a well-respected writer. She has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Scotsman, The Telegraph, The Independent, Londonist, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Refinery29, among others. Topics have ranged from ethical non monogamy, the power of horror to economics.
Elf frequently guests on podcasts and radio programmes discussing subjects as varied as polyamory, economics, and a wide range of political and social issues.
She has been featured and interviewed on Classical Fix (BBC Radio 3), Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), Standard Issue, The Spectator Podcast, The Insider for The Economist, Unexpected Fluids (Radio 1), Evil Genius (BBC Sounds), and BBC World Service’s Stand-Up Show – London (BBC World Service) among many other acclaimed podcasts and radio shows.
You can hear her frequently on The Breakfast Show and Culture Hour (Times Radio) and The Colin Murray Show (BBC Radio 5).
You can listen to her hit podcast Elfonomics on Apple Podcasts and her radio play Gorgon: A Horror Story on Bandcamp